NatWest Social and Community Capital are launching a £1m Coronavirus Response Fund on Monday 22nd June.
We know that many social enterprises, trading charities and community businesses have suffered a loss of income because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. We want to help bridge the income gap so that organisations survive the crisis and continue to have a positive impact in their communities.
In response to the pandemic, we are launching a £1 million Coronavirus Response Fund. We are offering grants of between £5,000 and £50,000 to organisations across the UK that employ people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. These grants are unrestricted and can be used for any purpose, including core costs. Organisations must have an annual turnover between £50,000 and £1 million, must have been generating at least 30% of revenue from trading income before the crisis and must have suffered a loss in trading income due to lockdown restrictions. Full eligibility criteria are outlined below.
Applications will open through our websites at 9am on Monday 22nd Juneand stay open for at least one week. We hope to leave applications open for longer but may need to close after a week depending on how many applications we receive and if we reach our capacity, so encourage applicants to submit the application as soon as possible. We have outlined the key information required in the application below.
Full information on the grants, including the application form and how to apply, will be available on their website from Monday 22nd June.
Eligibility criteria:
• Organisations must employ people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups
• Organisations must generate at least 30% of revenue from trading income
• Organisations must have had a pre-coronavirus annual turnover of between £50,000 to £1 million
• The organisation must have suffered a loss of trading income since March 2020, caused by lockdown restrictions
• The organisation must have been founded and trading prior to 1st January 2019
• The organisation must have been financially sustainable (or on a path to financial stability) up to March 2020
• The organisation must be constituted, operating and delivering impact in England, Scotland, Wales, and/or Northern Ireland
• The organisation must have one of the following legal structures: Community Interest Company (CIC), Company Limited by Guarantee, Community Benefit Society, Co-operative Society, Unincorporated association, Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), Charitable Trusts, Registered Charity
Please find below an outline of the information that will need to be provided in the application form:
• Basic information about the organisation, contact details, staff and volunteer numbers, year and date founded, financial information for the last 3 years and forecasts for the next 2 years
• A description of the organisations mission, key activities and impact over the last year
• Details about the grant request including what it will be used for, why it’s needed and what impact would be achieved
Applications will be open from 9am on Monday 22nd June and stay open for at least one week. Applications may be open longer depending on how many applications we receive and if we reach our capacity, so we encourage organisations to submit their application as soon as they can.